State of the Market

[Bluenose]

It is not a particularly prestigious firm or well paid role so what makes these people think they need a such an extended process? It may be a buyers market but the longer they take the more the risk of the best candidates finding something else or simply walking away.

These days, if the interview lasts more than 15 minutes with the decision maker it is unlikely I get the gig.

Its hard for some to swallow but that is as long as my interviews last for these days, for successful roles.

All this multi-stage nonsense does happen to me also but I look at it from a personal development view than actually having a chance of getting the role.

[SchumiStars]

Had a teams interview for a perm role the other day.

This was the third stage of the process having already had a 30 min recruiter chat and completed an online Codility test.

It didn't go particularly well mainly because the role listed about 20 skills some of which I do not claim to posses or have had limited experience with. The interviewers did not seem to understand that developers with a couple of decades of experience will probably pick up your dev ops/deployment pipeline pretty quickly and have done so numerous times in the past. The interviewers were the worst kind of technologists who seemed to think that just being in the position of interviewing candidates made them gatekeepers of the entire profession.

The hiring manager mentioned that there would be a few other rounds of technical tests with a gap of a week or so between to compare candidates so the entire interview process will take more than a month.

It is not a particularly prestigious firm or well paid role so what makes these people think they need a such an extended process? It may be a buyers market but the longer they take the more the risk of the best candidates finding something else or simply walking away.

I wouldn't worry about tbh. Sounds like a manager flexing his authority on the interviews. Micro managing to the Nth degree.

I have had interviews like that and always just thought the guy, company just want people to sit there and do everything they want and nothing more. No room for creativity or innovation.

[Dorkeaux]

These days, if the interview lasts more than 15 minutes with the decision maker it is unlikely I get the gig.

Its hard for some to swallow but that is as long as my interviews last for these days, for successful roles.

All this multi-stage nonsense does happen to me also but I look at it from a personal development view than actually having a chance of getting the role.

I find this as well. That is _if_ you actually get to talk to the decision maker.

If I get offered me the gig in 15 minutes (rare, but it does happen), I always ask for another interview with the end user and the people with whom I will be working. And more information on the role.

This can be a bit of a shock to bad interviewers who expect a more cap-in-hand approach, but good interviewers agree that it should be two parties trying to work out if you are a good fit for one another or not.


Sidebar: My wife works as a mid-high level permie in a tech firm.
When she interviews, HR gives her a script, from which she can _not_ deviate. They are recorded.
It makes the interviews useless. They also go three rounds, none of which involve the people the interviewee would work with.

[Cookielove]

Ah I need to get perm or outside but absolute nada on those fronts….

Just started an inside role and the deductions are eye watering….tax , er NI to swallow…apprentice levy ….i know that’s not a lot but still £40 a month…employee NI gone up too !!

am seriously disillusioned and want to just stop feel like worn down and over it…the work isn’t even interesting boss is a total knob/arse wipe but I grabbed it as been benched for 6 months …

is it time to retire ?? Not sure that’s the answer though …just feel like I’ve hit the buffers…

am relieved to have work but the actual work and the payslip are kickers!!! Earning less than I was 20 years ago…

[Cookielove]

I agree oliverson it p’s me off big time taxed now to oblivion and money being used to find illegals and wars …but no option for me as I can’t find an outside job…and perm is nigh on impossible in your mid 50s after a long contract career

[oliverson]

Ah I need to get perm or outside but absolute nada on those fronts….

Just started an inside role and the deductions are eye watering….tax , er NI to swallow…apprentice levy ….i know that’s not a lot but still £40 a month…employee NI gone up too !!

am seriously disillusioned and want to just stop feel like worn down and over it…the work isn’t even interesting boss is a total knob/arse wipe but I grabbed it as been benched for 6 months …

is it time to retire ?? Not sure that’s the answer though …just feel like I’ve hit the buffers…

am relieved to have work but the actual work and the payslip are kickers!!! Earning less than I was 20 years ago…

DON'T DO IT.

2 months into 'retirement' and I'm already looking for work. Soul destroying. I've much more to give (and take!!).

There are roles out there but it's not like it used to be, phone ringing off the hook. On that subject I'm starting to believe the main reason the phone isn't going wild is because of WFH. Seriously. I imagine this feckless bunch of recruitment agents, in the main, are indeed sat watching Netflix at home, or on days like we've had recently with good weather, out jogging, sitting in the garden, etc., anything but doing REAL WORK. By contrast, imagine them sat in the office, supervised and unable to get away with doing **** all each and every day? I bet the phone would ring then eh? Makes you think doesn't it?

[sadkingbilly]

DON'T DO IT.

2 months into 'retirement' and I'm already looking for work. Soul destroying. I've much more to give (and take!!).

There are roles out there but it's not like it used to be, phone ringing off the hook. On that subject I'm starting to believe the main reason the phone isn't going wild is because of WFH. Seriously. I imagine this feckless bunch of recruitment agents, in the main, are indeed sat watching Netflix at home, or on days like we've had recently with good weather, out jogging, sitting in the garden, etc., anything but doing REAL WORK. By contrast, imagine them sat in the office, supervised and unable to get away with doing **** all each and every day? I bet the phone would ring then eh? Makes you think doesn't it?

not really, no.

[SussexSeagull]

The problem is, I am nobody else's employee. I am committed to my own Limited Company of some 24 years. It has it's own obligations that need to be met.

Then there's the tax. I'm ferociously opposed to paying high levels, actually ANY level of tax, when I see how successive governments have, and continue to, piss it up against a wall, funding illegal immigrants and sending money abroad.

I suspect you need to make peace with being inside IR35 or exit stage left.

[SussexSeagull]

These days, if the interview lasts more than 15 minutes with the decision maker it is unlikely I get the gig.

Its hard for some to swallow but that is as long as my interviews last for these days, for successful roles.

All this multi-stage nonsense does happen to me also but I look at it from a personal development view than actually having a chance of getting the role.

Most successful interviews I have had for contracts have been south of half an hour with the odd one going up to 45 minutes. When they go beyond that or into multi stages I am always fairly sure I won't get it.

Also if you don't hear back in 24 hours it in all probability won't be you.

I suppose logically someone must get these gigs but I suspect if it is a drawn out process the client is actually undecided whether they need a contractor at all.

[oliverson]

I suspect you need to make peace with being inside IR35 or exit stage left.

Won’t happen. Fully expect to be in contract within the next few weeks. Outside.